Charlie Hall runner-up State Of Play is to be aimed at the Lexus Chase at Leopardstown on December 28th.
Last season's Hennessy Gold Cup winner found the task of giving 6lb to Nigel Twiston-Davies' Ollie Magern just too much and he went down by a length and three-quarters.
"He's better coming out of the Charlie Hall than he was coming out of the Hennessy last year," said trainer Evan Williams. "Maybe because he's a little bit older, stronger and perhaps hardened at this level a little bit now.
"I was just delighted with his run. Great credit to Nigel and his team, we were beaten by a better horse on the day giving him 6lb. We'll look forward to Christmas now, we'll probably go to Ireland for the Lexus.
"I was devastated he got beat. I really couldn't speak as I had him as good as I could get him and I thought he was better than last year. I have to admit I did go there thinking he had a great chance.
"Ollie Magern is a great horse, though, and great credit to Nigel and Paddy (Brennan), but I was still disappointed. He's come out of the race well and he's run a very sound race. AP (McCoy) said he always thought he was going to get him in the straight, but Ollie is a tough cookie and we just couldn't get there.
"I would love to go to Ireland as I don't think Kempton is the right sort of track. I'm not going to rush him back to take on Kauto Star and the others at Haydock in the Betfair Chase so I'd like to aim towards the Lexus and see how the rest of the season pans out from there," Williams added.
Michael O'Brien is hoping for rain so he can get Forget The Past back on the track. The nine-year-old, third in the 2006 Cheltenham Gold Cup, holds two entries this week.
He is in the two-and-three-quarter-mile Thurles Chase at the Co Tipperary circuit on Thursday and also in Saturday's James And Helen Hannon Memorial Handicap Chase over two miles, three furlongs at Naas.
"It depends on the weather, we need to get a drop of rain. He's in at Thurles and Naas and it really depends on what we get with the weather," said O'Brien. "I want to run him anywhere really to get a race into him. He's ready to run."
Slim Pickings could make his seasonal debut at Naas on Saturday if the ground is on the "easy side of good". Tom Taaffe would like to start the eight-year-old's campaign in the same handicap chase that Forget The Past may run in if he is happy with the state of the going.
"Ground permitting, he'll go," said Taaffe. "He's well and I'm very keen to get a run into him but it's all be subject to the ground. If it's on the genuine easy side of good we'd be happy to go to Naas. If it's not, he'll give it a miss."
